Clarence Holmes - a Casuality of the Great War - Sheffield October 1930.
I posted an article on the war dead of Sheffield's Abbey Lane Cemetery in February 2026.
The listing may well be incomplete but there is no mention of a Clarence Holmes who is buried in the cemetery because he is deemed not to be a causality of the Great War.
Clarence Holmes
Birth 1893 Death 7 Oct 1930 (aged 36–37)
Burial Abbey Lane Cemetery Sheffield, Metropolitan Borough of Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England
Plot Section O, Grave 9983 (Consecrated) Memorial ID 290029554 ·
Clarence had got married just over two year earlier to a Miss Lucy Griffith at St Peter Church Abbeydale Sheffield .
Prior
to the marriage Clarence had lived at 733 Ecclesall Road with his widowed mother
and sister
1921 Census
Name Clarence Holmes
Gender Male
Marital Status Single Age 29 Years 1 Month Relation to Head Son
Estimated Birth Year 1892 Birth Place Sheffield, Yorkshire, England
Residence Date 1921 Residence Street Address 773 Ecclesall St, Sheffield Residence Place Ecclesall, Yorkshire (West Riding), England
Occupation Linotype Operator Occupation Code 523/6 Employer Sheffield Independent 21 Fargate Sheffield
Employer Code 449 Place of Work 21 Fargate Sheffield
Ward Ecclesall Parliamentary Division Sheffield Pb, Ecclesall Div.Registration District Ecclesall Bierlow Registration District Number 509
Sub registration district Ecclesall South Sub Registration District Number 4
Respondent Mrs Holmes
Enumeration District Name Sheffield Cb Enumeration District 16 Schedule 44 Schedule Type Code E
Household Members (Name) Age Relationship
Mary Hannah Holmes 55 Years 6 Months Head
Clarence Holmes 29 Years 1 Month Son
Gladys Holmes 22 Years 3 Months Daughter
George Marson 24 Years 8 Months Visitor
Annie Elizabeth Gibson 69 Years 8 Months Boarder.
But on 4th October 1930 the Sheffield Independent carried this obituary. Clarence was a founder member of the Sheffield City Battalion who suffered horrendous causalities in the 1914 - 1918 Great War. Clarence was wounded twice and gassed twice but somehow he managed to return ti his family in Sheffield. He resumed his employment with Sheffield Independent newspapers as a linotype operator an occupation he had prior to the war but soon after he was redeployed as a linotype reader. It is inferred from the obituary that Clarence was no longer capable of fulfilling his duties in his chosen profession due to the injuries he sustained whilst in war service. "The effect of his war service told on him seriously."
And it appears that towards the end of his life, Clarence underwent "periods of protracted suffering brought on by his war service."
Clarence and thousands of other injured servicemen who survived the war tend to be ignored on official histories. Their lives in many cases were fundamentally altered by the effects of their injuries, and their lives significantly shortened. They too need to be rembered,
Clarence died at 84 Woodstock Road which is in the Abbeydale district of Sheffield. This is the address of his wife Lucy on their marriage certificate. The house is still there but there is no plaque on the house to say that this was the home of a very courageous person,
Sources
Sheffield Indexers
The Sheffield Independent dated 4th October 1930
Ancestry - UK Census
This page was last updated on 18/11/24 14:57